Most helpful positive review

My daughter has loved this book from the very beginning. She was fascinated by the animals revealed when I lifted the flaps, and then had a great time learning how to lift the flaps herself as she grew older. She's a year old now and brings it to me to read to her more than any other book that we have. She gets a kick out of the animal sounds we make when we lift the flaps, too. It's the only lift-the-flap book we have that she hasn't managed to tear off any flaps. I think this book has been instrumental in showing her how much fun books can be - I highly recommend it.

Most helpful critical review

This book is okay. Others raved about it but my three year old son found it boring. The reason I think is that he *wasn't* introduced to this book as a baby or toddler. First books generally tend to remain favorites, so my advice would be not to buy this for a Preschooler. A baby or young toddler would probably like it fine.

Pros

-- Pretty sturdy flaps that open from different sides. This feature helps young children exercise both their memory and fine motor skills (little fingers)

-- 17 pages including the title page. I know the description says 24, but they must be counting blank pages and the covers pages.

-- Interesting subject for babies and toddlers.

-- Text is repetitive and helps with baby and toddler memory and prediction.

Cons

-- For Preschoolers content is boring. The eight animals chosen are 'old hat' by the time most children hit the 2 to 3 range. Animals are: Elephant, giraffe, lion, camel, snake, monkey, frog, dog.

-- There is no rhyme in the text. Rhyme is one way to teach young children about how words work in similar ways.

--Text generally (after the first page) runs along the lines of "So they sent me a ..." to which the answer is something like "He was too ___ ! I sent him back." [The animal that was kept was a puppy.]

Three Stars. Average book in a large field of similar products. "Dear Zoo" seems sturdy (we borrowed ours from the library and one would assume it has seen lots of use) and the drawings are so simple that babies won't have a problem focusing on the subject animal.

Take a look at Amazon's "Search inside this book" feature for an example of text and artwork ("Surprise Me").

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My daughter has loved this book from the very beginning. She was fascinated by the animals revealed when I lifted the flaps, and then had a great time learning how to lift the flaps herself as she grew older. She's a year old now and brings it to me to read to her more than any other book that we have. She gets a kick out of the animal sounds we make when we lift the flaps, too. It's the only lift-the-flap book we have that she hasn't managed to tear off any flaps. I think this book has been instrumental in showing her how much fun books can be - I highly recommend it.

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This is a great early book. The zoo sends various animals as a pet but they are all unsuitable for some reason (the giraffe is too tall, the monkey is too naughty etc). Finally they send the perfect present: a puppy! The language is simple (in fact, this book was recommended to me by a speech pathologist) and the humor is perfect for the 2-4 age group. My son loves lifting up the flaps and making noises for all the different animals hidden below. The flaps are also cleverly illustrated so that enough of the animal is visible to allow the child to guess which one is being sent. I must have read it to my son more than 100 times but neither of us are tired of it yet!

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This book is okay. Others raved about it but my three year old son found it boring. The reason I think is that he *wasn't* introduced to this book as a baby or toddler. First books generally tend to remain favorites, so my advice would be not to buy this for a Preschooler. A baby or young toddler would probably like it fine.

Pros

-- Pretty sturdy flaps that open from different sides. This feature helps young children exercise both their memory and fine motor skills (little fingers)

-- 17 pages including the title page. I know the description says 24, but they must be counting blank pages and the covers pages.

-- Interesting subject for babies and toddlers.

-- Text is repetitive and helps with baby and toddler memory and prediction.

Cons

-- For Preschoolers content is boring. The eight animals chosen are 'old hat' by the time most children hit the 2 to 3 range. Animals are: Elephant, giraffe, lion, camel, snake, monkey, frog, dog.

-- There is no rhyme in the text. Rhyme is one way to teach young children about how words work in similar ways.

--Text generally (after the first page) runs along the lines of "So they sent me a ..." to which the answer is something like "He was too ___ ! I sent him back." [The animal that was kept was a puppy.]

Three Stars. Average book in a large field of similar products. "Dear Zoo" seems sturdy (we borrowed ours from the library and one would assume it has seen lots of use) and the drawings are so simple that babies won't have a problem focusing on the subject animal.

Take a look at Amazon's "Search inside this book" feature for an example of text and artwork ("Surprise Me").

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I have three daughters 18 month ,3 and 5 years old. My 18 month old can't get enough of this cute book. She is so excited every time she open one of the flaps. This book is simple enough for my 5 yr old to read it and my 3year old makes great sound effects for each flap. I recommend for 3 month the about age 6.

Tis the ultimate interactive story for the young `uns. An unseen narrator (who we assume must be a child of some sort) narrates a tale of unprecedented zooish generosity. After asking the zoo for a pet, a series of animals are sent in the hope that the child will want them. Unfortunately (and as the book makes clear) many of animals one finds at the zoo are inappropriate pets. Each animal that arrives is hidden beneath a flap. When you lift the flap the children to whom you are reading this tale are supposed to delightedly cry out the name of that particular animal. In this way, you can teach kids the kinds of animals that live at the zoo. For the narrator, though, elephants are too big, lions too fierce, monkeys to naughty, and frogs too jumpy. In the end, the narrator receives a small hamper with the note, "From all your friends at the zoo" containing the perfect pet.As an early book, this story and its accompanying illustrations are very very simple. I was a little disappointed at the flimsiness of the flaps children are supposed to lift or turn. The copy I paged through had been scotch taped and re-scotch taped several times to keep the book in any kind of semblance of order. It is also a pity that the animals in this book aren't named ever. I don't doubt that kids will, mostly, be able to name them anyway, but it's nice to learn to read the names along with the pictures of the animals. Still, the book is satisfying to read. No subtext here. Nuh-uh. Just a very basic story about a zoo, some friendly animals, and the reasons (or lack there of) of keeping them. For another interesting and enjoyable zoo book, try "Good Night, Gorilla" by Peggy Rathmann (a personal pet favorite of mine).

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I've read this book to my daughter since she was four months old. She really likes looking at the pictures and flaps. Other books, even classics like "The Runaway Bunny," have too many words to interest her, but this one has a very short, succinct story and great pictures.

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I don't usually take the time to write reviews, but this book is so amazing that I just had to comment. I read several books to my son every night. He is only 4 months old and usually reacts more or less the same to each book (generally lseems mostly to just enjoy sitting on my lap and looking at pictures). But Dear Zoo is different! He now has started to understand that the point is to lift up the flaps. And he just can't get enough of it! He actually started crying when I tried to go on to "Goodnight Moon". The rhythm of the text and the simple pictures, plus the fun of the flaps really has him enthralled. Highly recommended!